Gloriavale and Catherine Delahunty

Green MP Catherine Delahunty has been a critic of the Gloriavale school, demanding it be deregistered. Gloriavale have responded by inviting her to visit them for the day, and she did so. Credit to both of them for the invite, and acceptance, as that is better than just firing off press releases.

The welcome my colleague and I received could not have been more open and hospitable despite the challenges I have made in the media about the breadth of their senior school curriculum and in particular the lack of options for girls.

I spent much of a full day at the Gloriavale community, talking, listening and being shown around their impressive facilities.

They even put on a show for us. And at the end of the day the women asked me if, when I left, would I champion their community to the outside world. And in all honesty I had to say no.

Because as free as the adults of Gloriavale should always be to pursue the values they hold, my concern has always been about the rights of children, and in particular the rights of girls, to an education that allows them to think critically about their place in the world, and find their own voice.

Over the course of the day, two Gloriavale men, and several women gave us a tour of their midwifery rooms, early childhood centre, sewing rooms, schoolrooms and accommodation blocks as well the large new school they are building out of a kitset of spruce timber.

We were served a lunch of local produce – mashed potato, beans, mushrooms, and a roast, and given litres of home-made sparkling apple juice, bread and cheese to take home.

Then we had a frank dialogue about the roles of women and the role of education. It was made clear to me that education is valued at Gloriavale, but in a functional way which prepares members to serve in the community they live in.

That’s probably a fair criticism. The school does educate them, but mainly to prepare them for serving in the wider Gloriavale community.

This community feels they are under attack by people like me and throughout the day the women and men I met did their best to share their vision of a safe, structured and practical world led entirely by men who consult with women.

I appreciated their generosity, their hospitality and their candour, but I also felt claustrophobic.

Later buying fish and chips in Westport we talked to a group of young women who had chosen to travel down from Rotorua to study deep sea fishing. I found their sturdy independence a relief.

Their world may not be so “safe” but they looked like they were living on their own terms.

I defend the right of Gloriavale to exist and have a private school so long as it meets the required standards. But that doesn’t mean I’d want my daughter to live there or attend it!

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Comments (15)

Reid

If this was a Maori community that did exactly the same thing in every regard including its focus on preparing Maori girls for life inside that community, you can bet Delahunty wouldn’t be saying a thing about it, in fact she’d be saying the complete opposite.

And if anyone said the things she just said and has said about it, the entire lefty population including The Media party, would be braying wacism from the rafters, 24/7/365.

But no, it’s White Christians, so anything goes, including from White non-Christians.

Kimbo

David Garrett

Give credit where it’s due chaps…it was a pretty fair op-ed I thought…They were hardly going to convert her to their way of thinking…

However, Kowtow’s point is very well made…I don’t think I have ever heard any comment let alone criticism from the Melons re the Muslim women forced to wear their black tents… and I’m not sure they’d be “consulted” about anything by their bearded minders…

Kimbo

@ David Garrett

However, Kowtow’s point is very well made…I don’t think I have ever heard any comment let alone criticism from the Melons re the Muslim women forced to wear their black tents… and I’m not sure they’d be “consulted” about anything by their bearded minders…

It’s that dialectic thing again. If you are part of the status quo/hegemony you are automatically the oppressor and can do nothing right.

If you are part of the marginalised, you are automatically oppressed and can do no wrong.

So the white male Christians oppress the females of Gloriavale – so that is good guys and bad guys figured out.

And the white male Christians of the world oppress Muslims – so that is good guys and bad guys figured out.

Muslims men oppressing Muslim women, especially in New Zealand? Nah, as per above, good guys.

But hang around a bit and that will change…when the commentariat re-assign the white and black hats. Which is why radical left wing groups are so inward-looking and tearing themselves apart. They instinctively know it is a game of musical chairs and you don’t want to be caught standing when the latest round of music stops and find yourself labelled (shiver)…a revisionist!

mara

markm

“The reclusive Gloriavale community has opened its gates to Green Party MP and critic Catherine Delahunty – who said she enjoyed generous hospitality but found the level of structure frightening.

“For me, I find it frightening to see that much structure – everyone is wearing the same clothes, everyone is walking together to do the performance together,” Ms Delahunty said of her near four-hour visit yesterday.

“There was a historical re-enactment … all the kids dressed up in cute boy/girl costumes, about train drivers [boys] and little girls with baskets. It is lovely, but it is like something you would expect to see 100 years ago.”

David the above is the article from the Herald two days ago where she expressed her fear of structure.
Perhaps these comments are more expressive of her luddite views

mara

Religious cults so often appear to be focussed on sexual domination of women and children. Dirty old men, usually, have been doing this sex cult/religious stuff forever and there is ALWAYS a segment of the population which seems to need it. Unless it is Islamic in NZ, it flies under my radar.

UrbanNeocolonialist

We need to enforce standards of eduction for children that at least give them the opportunity to escape cults like this. We also need to provide the children with a connection to the wider community outside of the cult.

External state schools can fit both these requirements. Not a perfect solution as the cults still abuse their position of power and control to indoctrinate their children (grow your own slaves) and turn them into the little robots they need